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Paranormal TV Show “Most Haunted” Deemed Too Scary for Kids

Ok, so the jokes for this one basically write themselves. A broadcast watchdog group in England found that the paranormal investigating show Most Haunted violated its standards for what children can see (hey, what about us adults?) when the “psychic” on the show pretended to be was possessed by a child. I had no idea that the granddaddy of all the stupid pop culture ghost hunting shows was even still around. Go figure.

Mary loves Dick.

An episode of British paranormal reality series Most Haunted has been deemed in breach of broadcasting standards after it showed a man being “possessed” by a dead child.

The episode, which screened on Pick TV last October 17 at 6pm, showed psychic Derek Acorah, 62, exploring the Chatham Dockyard in Kent, the Daily Mail reports.

Inside, he was shown becoming “possessed” by the spirits of a dead soldier named Richard Neville and later a nine-year-old boy named Barney Little.

Broadcast regulator Ofcom found the episode was in breach of the broadcasting code because its content was too frightening for the program’s early time-slot.

The code was reportedly intended to prevent children from viewing unsuitable material.

But Pick TV’s parent company Sky argued that children did not make up a large portion of the program’s audience and the episode was intended as “entertainment”.

The regulator said it was likely that children would have viewed the episode, given it aired before the 9pm watershed.

I think it’s interesting that even the network admitted that the show was “entertainment” (though I’d use that term loosely) and shouldn’t really be taken seriously. The scariest thing with any of the shows of this ilk is that there are people out there who believe they are real.

What’s interesting is that it never occurred to anyone up to this point that ghosts and possession might be scary topics for children. Or, say, violent and unhappy deaths, and especially of other children. However contrived and fake the whole thing might seem to adults–are children supposed to be that on top of it? (Although, come to think of it, they can probably spot a fake faster than most adults–which may be why they don’t have many in their audience!)

What’s interesting is that it never occurred to anyone up to this point that ghosts and possession might be scary topics for children. Or, say, violent and unhappy deaths, and especially of other children. However contrived and fake the whole thing might seem to adults–are children supposed to be that on top of it? (Although, come to think of it, they can probably spot a fake faster than most adults–which may be why they don’t have many in their audience!)